❌SOLD❌Fender Electric XII 12-String Sunburst, 1966

Here is a rarity from early CBS-owned Fender days – an original Fender Electric XII 12 string with the distinctive ‘bent’ or ‘hockey stick’ headstock!

Introduced in 1965 as one of Leo Fender’s last designs prior to the company’s sale to CBS, the Fender Electric XII was built until 1969. While designed for the ‘Folk Rock’ market, it ultimately was used on many successful recordings including Cream’s ‘Dance the Night Away‘ and Led Zeppelin‘s ‘Stairway to Heaven’, Bryan Adams‘ ‘Summer of 69’, and The Who‘s ‘Tommy’ album.

The Fender Electric XII uses the typical Fender approach to guitar construction. The body is Alder in a shape derived from Fender’s offset-waist guitars – the Jazzmaster and Jaguar. The split pickups feed through a rotary four-position switch, allowing a phase reversal in one of the combined positions. The rest of the controls are master volume and master tone. The bridge is one of the things that makes this design special – there are twelve graduated-height saddles on a height-adjustable carrier, and the saddles individually adjustable for intonation. This extra ability to play in tune makes this model well suited to studio use. Strings are fed through the back.

The bolt-on neck of the Fender Electric XII is Maple with a Rosewood fingerboard, and at the time this example was built, the Rosewood was sourced from Brazil. The headstock echoes the traditional Fender shape, but the twelve tuners require a 6+6 installation. The result is the ‘bent’ or ‘hockey stick’ shape, which gives easy access to the tuners and plenty of space for the logo! To help keep resonances down and improve pressure on the nut, a six-hole string retainer is mounted on the head front.

This Fender Electric XII is in overall good shape, with most of its wear to the back finish, where there’s ‘buckle rash’ through the finish. There are a number of other small dents and dings around the body, expected from years of use. The neck has a wear spot where a capo wore through the finish. Fret wear on the other hand is light to moderate, and the guitar plays well with a very full sound. Typical of most 12-strings except for Rickenbacker, the courses are strung with the light string exposed to a pick downstroke.

This guitar is sold with a black rectangular Fender hard shell case which may well be the original.